Improvement in heels for boots and shoes



m. B-BAY. 4 Heels for Boots andShoes;

Patcpted Oct. 13,1874. 7

Wink/ages.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MELLEN BRAY, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

' IMPROVEMENT lN HEELS FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part'of Letters Patent No. 155,787, datedOctober 13, 1874; application filed November 27, 1872.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MELLEN BRAY, of N ewton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Heel for Boots and Shoes, of which the followin g is a specification:

My improvements relate more especially to the construction of hgels of boots and shoes made of wood, and to the method of attaching the same to the boot or shoe; and consists of a heel made of hard wood cut to the appropriate form externally, and provided with a row of holes near the'edge bored through the same, of the proper size to receive the nails or sprigs by which the heel is attached to the sole, without splitting the wood.

This heel is made by means entirely outside of the trade of the shoemaker, and is supplied to him in a finished condition ready to be attached by him to the boot or shoe, and is therefore a distinct manufacture.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a heel attached to a piece of the sole Fig. 2, transverse section of the same through the heel. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the heel detached with the sprigs inserted in the holes ready to be nailed on. v

The heel a is made of a block of hard wood cut to an appropriate form, as shown; and b is a row of small holes to receive the sprigs or nails 0, which are made near the edge of the heel in'the position upon the outside that the nails usually occupy when used in leather heels. The holes are bored in an incline direction, as shown, so that the sprigs will pass through the sole at near its edge,'so as to confine the heel andsole closely together at that place, and prevent their gaping apart. When the heel is put in place upon the shoe, the nails or sprigs are driven in from the outside,

and clinched upon'the inside of the shoe by being driven upon an iron-faced last, or some other device answering the same purpose.

Heels of this kind can be made by machinery at a very small cost, ready to be attached to the shoe by the shoe manufacturer, and when attached will be serviceable. The sprigs or nails thus serve to strengthen the heel, to resis't its wearing, and form a simple and secure attachment of the heel to the shoe, and enable it to be entirely completed before it is attached to the sole.

I am aware that heels made entirely of wood have been devised before; but in such cases they have been nailed to the shoe by nails driven from the inside of the shoe into the body of the heel, which required them to be driven at some distance from the edge of the sole to avoid splitting the heel, which allowed the joint between the heel and sole to gape open 5 but by boring holes through the heels in theinclined positions shown, the nails can be conveniently driven in and clinched from the outside without danger of splitting the heels, and at the same time hold the heel securely to the sole, with the other ad vantages already stated.

What I claim is- As a new manufacture, a heel of wood of finished form, provided with a row of holes to receive the nails or sprigs by which it is to be attached to the sole, said holes being inclined so as to be approximately parallel to the outer edge of the heel, substantially as described.

Executed November 16, 1872.

MELLEN BRAY.

Witnesses WM. (3. HIBBARD, ALBERT E. DOWNS. 

